Class Warfare Hits CA K-12 Education

“Class warfare applied to schools.” That’s how pollster Dave Kanevsky describes the plan by Gov. Jerry Brown to change the way public school funding is allocated to divert money from the state’s middle-class and upper-income children to low-income children and English-language learners.

For the “centerpiece” of the governor’s education agenda, according to the Los Angeles Times, Brown proposes to give each of the state’s school districts a base grant, while also providing schools extra tax dollars for every poor or near-poor student in their classrooms, as well as every student less than fluent in English.

Kanevsky works for American Viewpoint, a Republican polling firm, which jointly conducts surveys with Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, a Democratic pollster. Together, the firms produce the USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll, the latest of which was released last week.

Among its more noteworthy findings: That 50 percent of registered California voters support the idea of robbing from the state’s rich schools to give to poor (and disproportionately failing) schools.

While that poll number appears a positive to Brown, it really isn’t. That’s because the poll grossly oversampled Latino voters, the overwhelming majority of which favor the governor’s proposed redistribution of school funding.

Meanwhile, of whites that expressed an opinion of Brown’s plan, the majority were opposed. Typical was Debra Sexton, a 57-year-old Corona Democrat, who told the Times she thinks it unfair to take money from better schools. “I don’t think those schools should be punished because a lesser school isn’t making the grade,” she said.

Brown has unwittingly stumbled into war on two different fronts: class warfare, of which Kanevsky spoke in remarks to the Times. And racial warfare, as revealed by the decidedly differing views of whites and Latinos in the poll.

And if they were not potentially explosive enough, the centerpiece of the governor’s education agenda also places him at odds with both his fellow Democrats in the Legislature and the state’s powerful teachers unions, which are reflexively opposed to changing the formula by which schools are funded.

“It’s a classic case,” said Brown, speaking of his plan, “of justice to unequals.”

Well, it’s admirable, really, that Brown seeks justice for the state’s K-to-12 unequals. But his approach — diverting funds from the state’s middle-class and upper-income schools to the state’s lower-income schools — not only is divisive, it also won’t work.

That’s because it is based on the fallacious notion that if a school (or school district) has enough tax dollars to work with, it will turn out well-performing students.

Indeed, Washington, D.C. spends $29,409 per pupil, the highest in the country, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Yet, it received an F grade for K-12 student achievement on its 2013 report card from Education Week.

Throwing good money after bad doesn’t make sense, whether we’re talking about public schools in the District of Columbia or California.

If Brown was really about justice to unequals, then he would empower parents of low-income or English-language-learning schoolchildren to exercise the same school choice as the state’s more affluent parents.

And the very best way to do that is with a K-12 low-income student assistance program that provides “scholarships” — vouchers — that can be used to enroll in public, private or parochial schools.

(Joseph Perkins is an opinion columnist and editorial writer for the Orange County Register. Originally posted on CalWatchdog.)

Brown’s idea “providing schools extra tax dollars for every poor or near-poor student in their classrooms, as well as every student less than fluent in English.” His goal is to reward poverty, poor family planning and children of illegals… He prefers as a society that we were all equally mediocre than to see anyone achieve success and people that are successful must be penalized for their gains. Progressive liberal democrats like Jerry Brown are the leaders in the declining of America. He should be removed from office.

There are so many lies here. Yeah–he’s diverting funds and in their transit —How many $$ are being scammed into political pockets?
Then he accepted BHO’S mega bucks to use the mandate-COMMON CORE-which is not the best – methods used by HITLER’S brown shirts etc to indoctrinate the young & dumb them down too.
The funds will be taken from one class to another class -but “WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE?” because it will not make a difference.

This state and country we are living in has changed beyond belief – what happened to work to better yourself and great opportunity. Now it is a Taker State. They are all here for everything free and take even more and now they are taking from the wealthy and giving to the POOR – which is a bunch of takers!! And sit on their royal butts and do nothing!! Now it has infiltrated in to the schools but it has been coming for quite some time!! It is sad that we have to pay for all the illegals now and the do nothings – They have corrupted the government so bad that their is no incentive for any of them to work – just lay around and drink, do dope and get enough tattoos so they are covered. Goes to show you what attention they need to go to those lengths. It is a very sick world and the sad part is the government is helping it by leaps and bounds!!!

Yeah, let’s give more money to the LOSERS and to the people that shouldn’t even BE here– Yeah, that’s the ticket! Do just THAT and we’ll ALL reap the fantastic benefits! Then, let’s expand mass transit– students and parolees ride fer FREE— so it’ll be THAT much easier for all the “knock-knock” burglars and Home Invasionists to put in a full day of criminal activity w/o even leading the cops on a high-speed chase!

When “Moonbeam” was Governor in the Late-70’s, the current funding formula’s were hashed out in the wake of the rulings on Serrano I/II/III.
Those were a major subsidy of less-wealthy school districts by the better offs.
Of course, no appreciable improvement of student achievement was noted then, nor will it be noted now, as these funds were, and will be, diverted to the pay-envelopes of the faculty and staff of the affected schools (as Albert Shanker of the AFT famously said: When school children are members of my union, I’ll represent them!), or into programs that have the favor of the leading voices in the Hispanic Community – but if there is money to be had, they’re in favor of it.
The problem for our Governor, is that while the Hispanic community was just a buzzing knat that could be whisked away and ignored for the most part during his first two terms, he has to make major concessions to it now if he wishes to have a fourth.
The one thing he could do, and that Hispanic parents have supported for decades, is a Universal Voucher System: Let each child’s parents choose which school is best for their child, and let the money follow the child. But, as we all know, the CTA/CFT would crucify him in next years’ primary if he attempted such a move, a move that could only benefit all of CA’s children and which the teacher’s unions have been resisting since the early-90’s with their promises of Unicorns and Pixie-dust..
Aren’t the Progressives always telling us two things:
Choice is a universal right;
and that they’re always doing things “For the Children”.
Well, Jer, time to step up and show us, the voters, whether you have a spine or not.

This taking from the richer to give to the poor sounds and looks good but in education it will never work. Money has nothing to do with learning. The problem is the Latino and Blacks do not value education as much as other ethnic groups affirmitive action bears this out. All so look at how well most Asians do in our educational system they do even better than whites in a lot of our schools. Just throwing money away is not the answer. By giving these people freebees why should they try to better themselves!